MEMORIES AND INFORMATION - STAFFS HOME GUARD
3rd STAFFORDSHIRE (LONGTON) BATTN.
MEIR
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Meir, near to Longton in North Staffordshire, was defended by 'C' Coy. of the 3rd Staffordshire (Longton) Battalion.

In 1945, after the Home Guard standown in December 1944, a commemorative tankard was issued. This was produced by the Shelley company, a pottery whose reputation for fine china was worldwide and which survived from the 1860s until the 1960s. It may be no coincidence that the Commanding Officer of the 3rd Battalion was one Lt.-Col. V.B. Shelley. Col. Shelley (right), late captain in the T.A., was the second son (and the elder of twins) of Mr. Percy Shelley who had done much to build up the company over the 50 years until his retirement in 1932 when he handed over to the next generation.

We are indebted to Mr. Roy Goodwin for providing an image of one of these tankards which remains in his possession and for allowing us to reproduce it here. Both Mr. Goodwin's grandfather, Harold Goodwin, and his father, John Thomas Goodwin, served in the Meir unit. Harold, as can be seen below, was Intelligence Officer in 'C' Coy.; he was also an employee at Shelley's in Longton.

Images © Roy Goodwin, 2007

 

Below is an image of the entire "C" Coy. photographed in the grounds of the church at Box Lane, Meir. Permission to publish here has been generously granted by Mr. David Frost whose father appears in it. The image also appears, with other Staffordshire HG pictures, on the excellent Staffordshire Past Track website - there is a link to those available here.

Image © David Frost, 2007                Click anywhere on the above image to see a Higher Definition version

Front row: 2nd from right is Dennis Ridge, 3rd from right is Frank Frost. (At this time Frank lived in Eversley Road, Normacot and was about 17 years old.)

Please also see the Longton memories page. And a further attractive memento which bears the name of the Battalion's C.O., Lt.-Col. V.B. Shelley, is shown on this page.

Shelley image © David Woollam, 2016